Help:Beginner's Guide to MAGIQ
Foreword This guide was created in order to help new players get acclimated to the Monarch Papers as easily as possible. For a while now, I've noticed that a lot of newcomers are posting in the Welcome forums and seeming overwhelmed. They've taken the Guide's test, but they don't know what the deal is with the story or what to do next. My hope is that this guide will give you something to read and steps to take so you can quickly get caught up. On Entering the Universe So, you've been to the Ackerly Green's Guide to Magiq site. You've been sorted into a guild, and you've made an account on the forums. So, now what? What're we doing, why do we care? Good question... Why *do* we care? This site you've found, it's what's known as an Alternate Reality Game. Long story short, it's a real-time puzzle solving game where you get to interact with characters and make choices that influence the plot. This particular game is known as The Monarch Papers. Like any game, we care because it's fun, has an interesting story, and we want to solve cool puzzles. What's the point, exactly? The point is opening the Book of Briars. The Book of Briars is a magical book that was thought lost to history. It's been uploaded online, but it requires magical fragments to open its locks. For every four fragments we discover, a new key is unlocked, by way of a Magimystical Assessment. These four fragments are called phases, with Phase One being fragments 1 - 4, Phase Two being fragments 5 - 8, Phase Three being fragments 9 - 12, and Phase Four being fragments 13 - 16. Once the final key has been obtained, the game will be over. Ok, I'm interested. How do I start? After you have a general understanding of the world and what's going on, the simplest way to start is to go to the Fragments Category of the forums, find the most recent fragment, and start reading the threads there. We're a friendly bunch here, if you post in the latest thread with something like "Hey, I'm new. What are we working on?", then someone will help fill you in. However, the first step is to learn about the plot and the events that have already happened in the MAGIQverse, otherwise you won't have any idea what's going on. If you want to learn more about that, you'll need to watch the Fragment Recaps, read the Weekly Recaps, or browse this Wiki. Handy Links The following are some links to resources that can help your understanding of the MAGIQ-verse: * Ascender's Introductory Post - In this post, the former head of The Mountaineers explains why we are searching for the Book of Briars, the Mandela Effect, and why you should care. * CJ's Quickstart Guide - A handy set of links and tips provided by our puppetmaster, CJ Bernstein. * Weekly Recaps - These are recaps of the important plot points that have occurred each week. It's the quickest and most in-depth way to get caught up with the game. * Basecamp 33 Youtube Channel - The Youtube channel has video recaps of every fragment that recruits have solved. You can also read about them in the Fragment Recaps category of the forum. On Using the Wiki The primary purpose of the wiki is so that players can easily look up information about objects, characters, and locations without sifting through the forum. Not sure who Deirdre Green is? There's a full summary of her adventures on her page. Don't know what an Illiomancer is? There's a page for that, too. Using the search bar, you can easily find what you're looking for. The linear story can also be obtained by reading the Fragment articles, starting with Fragment One. Frequently Asked Questions How long is it going to take me to catch up? This all depends on how deep you want to go into the lore. If you want just a basic overview of the plot, you can watch and read the Fragment recap videos and be ready to go in, say, maybe an hour. If you do that, you'll have a general idea of what's going on and where we are now. However, while the videos are great at getting people up to speed, they don't capture everything. If you want a more in-depth overview, read Eaves' Weekly Recaps and Deirdre Green's blog, while using the wiki to search for anything that confuses you. That will probably take a week, maybe more, of dedicated reading. However, if you take the time to do a more careful read of the story, you'll be in a much better position to participate. How can I help? There are lots of ways to help The Monarch Papers. The most straightforward way is to contribute to any puzzle solving and give ideas on how the current puzzle might be solved. You can also keep an eye on all of the websites listed in the Important Links and let people on the forums know if there are any updates. Perhaps the most important thing you can do is ask questions about the narrative. Try to foster discussions on the implications of plot events. Because The Monarch Papers is story-driven, theorizing about events is one of the most beneficial things you can do. If you prefer not to directly influence events, The Campfire Project is a way to discuss magiq and other creative projects. You can write prose, create visual art, make songs, or anything else. Adding to the fandom in that way is a great way to grow the Ackerly Green community. What is The Monarch Papers? Out of world, The Monarch Papers is the name for the literary experience that was created by CJ Bernstein. In game, The Monarch Papers is a series of journals written by Sullivan Green cataloging his discoveries with magiq. Who is Deirdre? Who is Cole? Deirdre Green is the heir to Ackerly Green Publishing. They are the company that published the Lost Collection, making her one of the most important characters in The Monarch Papers. She has been a part of the narrative since the very beginning, and our interactions with her have allowed us to unlock several of the Book of Briars locks. Cole Sumner is a guy with magical talent who we've run into during several fragments. He's helped with several real-life missions and he also gained a close friendship with Deirdre starting in Phase Two. Who is ? If they are a named character, chances are they have a page somewhere on the wiki. The Characters page has a comprehensive list of all characters, or you can use the search feature to look for the character that way. If you are unable to find information on a character on the wiki, please contact Revenir and he'll look into it. Other Important Things to Know On Reading A very important thing to know about The Monarch Papers is that it has a great deal of lore. The game was created by a very passionate writer who intends to publish books about this universe (which we call the MAGIQ-verse for short). What this means is that experiencing the MAGIQ-verse is like experiencing a story - one that you learn through blog posts, forum posts, audio clips, and videos. Things like the Fragment video recaps and wiki summaries reduce the amount of reading needed, but there's still a lot of reading to do. If you're someone who just doesn't like reading much, you may struggle to get into the game. On the other hand, if you're someone who loves research and lots of reading, welcome to paradise. The fandom is here for you. On Roleplaying and Meta One of the coolest things about the MAGIQ-verse is its deep lore and interesting, complex characters. It's a good story, and we, as players, get to be a part of that and even influence the twists and turns of the story itself. But with great power comes great responsibility. When you're in the world of the game, which includes things like the Basecamp Forums and Deirdre's blog, remember that the game world is real, magiq is real. That means don't talk about CJ or Instagram ads or other meta subjects in those spaces. If you do want to talk about out of game stuff, there's a special category for that - The Cabinet of Otherworldly Curiosities. In that category, it's okay to talk about meta things. And if you make a mistake in other parts of the forums, that's okay, but do your best to stay in-world. Category:Help